Project Freeway Slated to Begin Next Month on U.S. 60

ROGERSVILLE, Mo. -- U.S. 60 between Springfield and Rogersville will soon look different. A public meeting Thursday gave people a chance to learn more about the improvements that will begin in September.

ROGERSVILLE, Mo. -- U.S. 60 between Springfield and Rogersville will soon look different. A public meeting Thursday gave people a chance to learn more about the improvements that will begin in September.

The project, referred to as "Project Freeway," will begin in just a few weeks. U.S. 60 will transform from an expressway to a freeway.

"Basically we will be getting rid of those two signals at B and VV," says MoDOT Project Director Sean Matlock. "And also at business 60-- and those will be replaced with an interchange."

The project also consists of building two way backage roads with a one-way outer road, building an overpass at Farm Road 247, widening Farm Road 253 between 60 and Center Street, reconfiguring and improving intersections, and adding turn lanes at Chicory and Peck Hollow Roads.

"Hopefully to spur some economic development," says Matlock.

MoDOT officials believe the project will help with traffic flow and make the road safer as well.

"We were expecting more and more traffic on U.S. 60 in the next few years-- about 40,000 vehicles a day in the next 20 years," says Matlock. "So we just knew things needed to be done to eliminate those at great accesses and stoplights along U.S. 60 to make it a lot safer."

The project, though, leaves business owners like Kevin Chapman concerned.

"The outer road is going right through the middle of the property we are on," he says.

Kevin Chapman is the owner of Willow Green Gardens-- which uses property right off of U.S. 60. He says the animation of the project shows the outer road going right through the water well on his property.

"We have wells in place and greenhouses in place," Chapman says. "And trees planted that will be affected by this in one way, shape or form and we just aren't exactly sure how."

He says he's waiting to learn more and is trying to figure out what this will mean for his business.

"We have a lot of concerns," he says. "We don't know where the road is going to go through or what it's going to mean for us long term as a business."

Construction is expected to begin next month and should be complete in December of 2016.

For more information and a full video of the transformation, you can visit MoDOT's website by clicking here.